Founded in 1998, Stargate Cyber Active Ltd [www.stargate-cyberactive.com] aims to offer comprehensive technology solutions and consulting services to the travel industry.
Stargate's core activity centres on the distribution of the Worldspan GDS in numerous countries of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Asia Pacific. Worldspan has a complete array of products and services for planning, booking, and managing travel. Stargate also develops its own travel industry related products such as back office systems, ticket printer software, internet booking engines and internal systems. "Stargate's success is to be able to customise its services to the specific needs of the regions it handles," said a company spokesman. "Stargate not only offers a product, but a solution that we custom make, design, provide and implement to our customers. We have success because we tailor-make such solutions to our clients' needs." The company says it has developed affiliations and partnerships with technology firms to provide a wide array of opportunities to travel world. "E-Distribution cuts costs, opens new markets and attracts more affluent customers to the arena," said the spokesman. "In our regions, we believe that travel agents can incorporate ecommerce successfully into their business, not as a replacement of a distribution office but as an addition to it, providing another open window of opportunities for their customers." Referring to the effects of the September 11 terror attacks in the US and its aftermath, the company said the industry faces a turbulent future. "The global economy was in a down mode even before the attacks on the US and the slowdown can turn into an outright recession," said the spokesman. Stargate was founded by Sean Van den Haute, a Belgian, and Rashid Al Mugait, a Saudi.